Lleyton Hewitt believes the FAST4 format was a massive plus in attracting 14-time Grand Slam champ Rafael Nadal to Sydney for a star studded Australia v the World event in the lead up to next year's Australian Open.
Nadal will team up with Frenchman Gael Monfils and tennis legend John McEnroe and take on Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios and Pat Cash. It will be the first time the Spanish great has played in Sydney since 2007.
Hewitt launched the FAST4 concept earlier this year when he took on the Swiss master Federer in Sydney earlier this year. The format has been promoted as the tennis equivalent of 20-20 cricket and made a successful start with tickets for the event selling out in less than 72 hours and 2.4 million Australian fans tuning on television.
“These one off nights are fantastic for the sport,” Hewitt said.
“You know how long it will go which makes it easier for families to come and watch. Tennis matches can go on for four, five or six hours some times. An allocated time also works well for Television. In a normal tournament most of my matches drag it out a bit.”
The shortened matches have four points, four games and four rules, there are no advantage scores, lets are played, nine point tie-breakers apply at three games all and the first to four games wins the set.
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